Better Software Magazine

Better Software Magazine Articles

Learning Web Performance Testing

Sue Bartlett and Meenakshi Rao highlight some common mistakes to avoid when starting Web performance testing, including trying to select a load-testing tool before evaluating your needs, and trying to outsource performance testing for a complex eBusiness application. They convey two important lessons: First, it's vital that you understand your architecture and your Web site's purpose; second, that kind of understanding is difficult to transfer to a third party.

Confessions of a Lapsed Academic

After almost twenty-five years as a professor, Elaine Weyuker left academia for full-time work at AT&T. Here, she shares how industry and academia can both benefit from collaborating.

Elaine J. Weyuker
A Look at Testing Web Applications with eValid

When Robert Sabourin set up a testing lab for a major e-commerce Web-based application, he chose eValid from Software Research, Inc., as the tool for use in functional, performance, and load testing of the application. The product did the job at a very reasonable price, and they were able to find some very important bugs well ahead of their target delivery dates.

Robert Sabourin's picture Robert Sabourin
Thinking About Thinking

Esther Derby recommends The Logic of Failure and The Thinking Manager's Toolbox. Both authors share the same goal: helping you be a better problem solver. They stress the importance of recognizing the situation you're in, choosing an appropriate problem-solving strategy, and having the right thinking tools.

Esther Derby's picture Esther Derby
Know Thy User

Testing, in its broadest sense, means ensuring that your visionaries and programmers are creating a helpful product that people will actually use. As the two authors of this installment of Bug Report illustrate, understanding how those users will operate your application is more than an exercise in empathy; it's a simple key to avoiding some real usability meltdowns.

Brian Marick
I am a Bug, and Refactoring

Our editors recommend the books I am a Bug (a children's book written by a software development manager and tester to explain his job to his children) and Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code (by Martin Fowler, with contributions by Kent Beck, John Brant, William Opdyke, and Don Roberts).

Brian Marick
Houston, We Have a Problem

Errors start with individuals, and a primary job of testers/QA people is to prevent those errors in the first place. But an equally important part of the job is to find them once they are there, understanding that errors will happen. Jon Hagar asks, "What can we do personally, above and beyond the normal day-to-day jobs that we testers and developers have?"

Jon Hagar's picture Jon Hagar
Book Review: Adaptive Software Development

Johanna Rothman recommends the book Adaptive Software Development by James Highsmith. She says, "Highsmith shows the reader how to recognize when development practices need to change and how to acquire the skills to adapt. For a fresh approach to software development, be sure to check it out."

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
Network Testing with Shunra's STORM

STORM is a software-driven combination of hardware and software that recreates multiple, real-life, WAN links in terms of bandwidth limitations, packet loss, latency, jitter, and more–all in a local area network (LAN) lab. By providing a test bed that brings the WAN into a controlled and repeatable LAN environment, we can test and evaluate the performance and robustness of IP applications or devices before wide-scale deployment, or compare new technologies before field testing.

Ron Ioszpe
A Detour Around Dead-end Bugs

Show-stopping failures in Web applications are all too common. One serious but easily avoidable failure is the "dead-end" bug, where a user is left staring at a blank screen without any clue about what went wrong. Derek Sisson describes different types of "dead-end" bugs and shows how to avoid them.

Derek Sisson

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